The officials of Caddo Parish's Industrial Development Board closed the deal on Friday afternoon to acquire the former General Motors (GM) facility from RACER Trust for $7.5 million.

The UK government could sell off its remaining 33% stake in Lloyds Banking Group next year to complete the privatization of the lender, according to sources familiar with the process.

The leveraged buyouts in Europe are surging as US distress investors purchase existing bank loans at steep discounts and move to take over the companies by exchanging their debt for equity in "loan-to-own" deals in the wake of the financial crisis.

Qatar-based oil and gas drilling company Gulf Drilling International (GDI) is poised to become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gulf International Services (GIS) with the latter acquiring the entire 30% stake held by Japan Drilling Corp (JDC), according to a GIS spokesman.

Irvine, California-based business analytics firm CoreLogic bought Oakland, California-based catastrophe risk modeling firm EQECAT for a yet undisclosed sum from its parent company ABS Group.

Tim Cook, incumbent chief executive of Apple Inc, has received $4.25 million in salary and bonus for the fiscal year 2013. A proxy filing by Apple also revealed that the tech giant's chief executive did not receive stock-based compensation for the last two fiscal years.

SAC Capital Advisors UK's Massimo Amati, Stanislas de Caumont and Robert Harris have agreed to join rival hedge fund Balyasny Asset Management. Other portfolio managers and analysts are departing SAC after the firm decided to shut down its London office.

Aliko Dangote, Africa's richest man with about $22 billion net worth, is set to spend $9 billion to build the largest privately-owned oil refinery in Nigeria.

Cominar Real Estate Investment Trust, Quebec's biggest commercial property owner and manager, has bought Montenach Mall in the Beloeil suburb for $60 million. The said mall has an area of 328,050 sq. ft. and is 93.2% rented.

Lanco Infratech on Friday reportedly met with a consortium of over 25 lenders to discuss details on its proposed INR7,500 crore corporate debt restructuring deal. The said deal will also give the cash-strapped company access to a new credit of INR3,500 crore.

British retailer Tesco's $110 million investment in Tata-owned Trent Hypermarket has received approval from India's Department of Industry Policy and Promotion (DIPP). This will pave the way for Tesco to get a clearance from the country's Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).

NASDAQ OMX Group on Friday said that it would pay $41.6 million on December 31 for qualifying claims related to Facebook's botched initial public offering.

Hyundai Motor Co. on Friday named sales chief David Zuchowski as the new chief of its US arm. Zuchowski will replace incumbent US chief John Krafcik, whose contract expires at the end of the year.

Apple Inc. has filed a proxy statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday. Apple investors are set to vote on activist investor Carl Icahn's $50 billion stock repurchase proposal on February 28.

China's Oceanwide Real Estate Group will acquire a sprawling parking lot in downtown Los Angeles for $200 million to develop a five-star hotel, apartments and retail spaces.

Private equity firm KKR & Co. takes the top spot in Dealogic's list of most acquisitive investment firms, spending about $174 billion in 34 companies this year.

Reuben Kressel, a 66-year old investor, completely sold his entire holding in Twitter Inc. after its shares dropped as much as $5.91 or 8% on Friday's market close. Kressel owns 500 shares in the micro-blogging site.

Infrastructure group Invepar SA has won the rights to operate a 937-kilometer stretch of Brazil's BR-040 highway, connecting Brasilia to Rio de Janeiro. Invepar is expected to invest $3.2 billion in BR-040 over the next three decades.

Shares of debt-laden construction firm FCC SA leaped by as much as 8.8% on Friday following news that American hedge fund Soros Fund Management, controlled by billionaire George Soros, had acquired a 3% stake in the company.

US law firms Nixon Peabody and Blank Rome is reportedly in merger talks to create the 33rd largest law firm in the country. Nixon Peabody is a Boston-based law firm, while Blank Rome hails from Philadelphia.

Canada-based lead-acid battery-powered electric car seller Zenn Motor Co entered in an agreement to acquire a controlling stake in US-based energy storage company EEStor in a deal valued at $1 million.

US-based digital content storage company Seagate announced that it is acquiring UK-based network and storage equipment maker Xyratex in an all-cash transaction valued at $374 million.

California, US-based business applications vendor Tidemark has raised more than $1 million in a new funding round, according to a filing submitted to the US regulators.

New Jersey, US-based private equity firm DFW Capital Partners has closed $162.5 million for its fourth fund called DFW Capital Partners IV, shooting past its $150 million target.

Massachusetts, US-based private equity firm Brookwood Financial Partners has acquired The Embassy, a 10-storey office property located in the Las Colinas complex in Irving, Texas, for an undisclosed amount.

Australian construction firm Leighton, is buyout out Welspun Group's 40% stake in the company in a $100-million deal (INR62 crore), according to a person directly familiar with the matter.

Illinois, Chicago-based multimedia corporation Tribune Co has completed its $2.73-billion acquisition of television broadcasting firm Local TV after emerging from a four-year Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December.

US-based utilities MidAmerican Energy holdings Co and NV Energy completed their merger after gaining state and federal approvals fro

Japan-based gaming company Nintendo will temporarily take down its eShop for 12 hours beginning 4:00 pm Eastern Standard Time to remedy high traffic and merger issues, according to The Next Web.

Brazil-based fixed-phone company Embratel Participacoes will pour in BRL2.2 billion ($944 million) into Mexico-based mobile phone company Claro as part of a plan to merge the group's fixed and mobile divisions.